So what do the rest of you do with cockerels you can't use? Out of my hatched 7 babies, 5 of them turned out to be boys! I posted on Craigslist a week ago and sold 2 of the boys right away. (I could have sold my Porcelain 4 or 5 times - everyone wanted that one only!)
However, responses have slowed wayyy down. I've got at least one boy crowing and although my neighbors have been tolerant so far, I don't want to take any chances. We do live in the suburbs with 5 other lots bordering ours and of course, roosters are outlawed. (Hey, technically these aren't roosters yet, right? They're only 4 months old.)
I did reduce the price from $10 to $5. I only had them priced at $10 because I didn't want them eaten. At this point, I'm wondering if I need to just let go of them emotionally. It is tough when we've hatched them, loved on them daily, cuddled them, etc. These babies were in my house until they were 8 weeks old.
They have all had their Marek's vaccine.
I will post their photos again, just in case someone local might be interested. I cannot ship. The blue and partridge are both from Catdance eggs. If I can't rehome them on Craigslist, what's next? Local auctions?
I've always been able to re-home my LF boys before, so this is new to me.
I posted some pictures a while back of a couple pullets we were going to take to the state fair to get some comments or suggestions on whether or not we were just wasting our time or if you'all thought we might actually do good.....
Results:
The judge was very strict and dq'd so many birds in general at the fair I was shocked. Then it came to our silkies. My daughter took 7 birds, 4 indiv. and a trio of buffs we picked up a couple weeks before the show.
The black you thought wouldn't do so good got BV and then the blue got BB and BV. we got 2 more 2nd places and the buff trio got 2nd place (which was great since 1 of the hens was moulting pretty bad and the other got a stain in her crest). I thought for sure the judge was going to dq at leased a couple of what we brought because I was being so critical of them but after I talked to him about them and he pointed out all of the great things about them and how nice they really were. Then him and a 4h leader who was helping run the poultry at he fair were practically begging us to bring them back in and show again at a youth show in October!
Holly crow I didn't know what to say..... Here i was being so critical and I didn't even realize how nice they were..... I did realize however that my camera skills are terrible because looking at them at the show and looking at the pictures I took a couple weeks before the show that I posted here and they do not even look like the same birds at all... LOL
Of course thought as soon as we got no more than 3 days and now 3 of the pullets we brought went broody for their first times....... All I can do is laugh now I guess? LOL
I have some 9 week olds that I hatched from great breeder eggs. Very cute. All bearded. A couple have a little bump on their combs about 1/8" or a little more. Do girls ever get bumps there or their combs a little raised, or is this a true sign that these are boys? I can't get a picture, it comes out too dark.
Also, one precious gray [bl lav split] has teeny tiny dark mulberry wattles. About 1/16" at this point. Boy? Or could girls have these. They'll be covered with the beard in time but I see them now.
Is it common that you need to trim up a silkie beak? they are so curved compared to my standards. I have cement blocks and plenty rocks in the run now, but its still long and I trimmed it when she was 3 mo. that was a mo. ago
Depends on the individual bird, not the breed. Some I almost never need to trim, others seem to need it very frequently. This is for all breeds, not just silkies.
